BlueCat Motors of St. Paul, MN is the kind of motorcycle shop that every town should have. It’s run by enthusiasts who are comfortable working on both vintage and modern machinery. BlueCat often resurrects older bikes, and this beautiful 1974 Honda CB450 K7 is a prime example.

It started as a “runner” but was then heavily modified to suit the owner’s size: at 6’3″, Nathaniel Salzman is a big guy. And although his CB450 looks mostly stock at first glance, there are a dozen unique touches that make it special.

The bike was given the name Adeline by BlueCat’s mechanic—because everything about the CB450 was just a little bit off when he started. Everything was just a little “out-of-line.”

On to the mods: The front fender, grips and kick start lever are from a Honda CB550. The foot pegs (lower and further back than stock) are from a Honda CB500T, as are the finned valve covers and a handful of internal engine components. The round tail light is taken from a Yamaha XS650, and matches all the other circle elements on the bike.

The seat is a one-off custom made from the original seat pan by Vinyl-Lux in Minneapolis. It’s been shaved and re-shaped from the original Honda “loaf” seat. The paint on the tank and side covers is original, which makes this bike a style BlueCat calls a “rolling patina restoration.” As they say, “It’s easy to make something shiny. We wanted this CB450 to still look its age, but also look really well cared for. Which was true. All we did was fix it—and adjust the “boring” out of it.”

Mechanically, the engine was rebuilt and tuned for low end and mid-range grunt. The exhaust is a vintage 2-into-one performance pipe with custom baffling. (“The sound it makes is more of a v-twin note. It’s deep and loud, but not obnoxious.”) Higher sprocket ratios let the bike take advantage of its new power band. The CB450 also received a new charging and ignition system.

To further account for Nathaniel’s size, the front suspension contains many skunkworks components and adjustments. A pair of adjustable Progressive Suspension rear shocks completes the package.

Nathaniel likes it: “This 40 year-old CB450 handles better than most modern bikes I’ve ridden. As capable as it is, it’s also surprisingly comfortable, like some kind of luxury sports car. The suspension is dialed in just right for my weight, and the chassis is completely neutral. It’s solid and stable, yet really nimble. The growl and torque from the engine, plus this terrific suspension, it just devours country backroads. Then again, I’m also content just to sit in my shop and look at the damn thing. It’s just so beautiful and full of character.

“I like to think of it as a gentleman’s cafe custom.”

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Most folks agree that the Triumph Speed Triple is one of the best ‘naked’ bikes you can buy. But there’s always someone, somewhere, who wants to improve on perfection.

That’s where companies like Vilner come in. Best known for its custom cars and a client list full of Russian oligarchs, Vilner occasionally turns its hand to custom motorcycles. And this is the latest creation from the Bulgarian company, a 1050 Speed Triple called ‘Bulldog.’

The mechanicals of the bike have wisely been left alone. (With over 130 bhp and a top speed nudging 150 mph, the stock Speed Triple is not short of performance.) But Vilner has gone to town on the aesthetics, replacing the signature twin lamps with a huge single unit and covering the bike in a swathe of top-grade leather.

The wheels are swapped out for lightweight OZ Racing items, shod with Metzeler Racetec K3 tires. New mirrors sit under the handlebars, and the exhaust system has been powder-coated black. Leather sweeps down the black engine side panels, with a contrasting gold ‘scoop’ wrapping around the downpipes.

It’s a far cry from a Bonneville with a Brat-style seat and clip-ons, but it hits the spot for well-heeled Eastern Europeans. And the black-and-gold color scheme does look rather fetching.

Head over to the Vilner Custom website to see more of the Sofia-based company’s work.

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Fully-faired sportbikes don’t really get my motor running, no matter how exotic. But if I had to put an Italian stallion in my garage, it’d be one of Ducati’s mid-displacement models.

So I like the way Radical Ducati are thinking. Their latest build, the 7½ Sportiva, is a Ducati 749R given a retro flavor and put on a diet. And being Radical Ducati, they’ve torn the bike down and modified virtually every component apart from the trellis main frame and fuel tank.

The rear subframe is a custom aluminum job, and the bodywork is a mix of fiberglass and carbon. Öhlins provides the front and rear suspension, and the brake system is a Brembo upgrade—including calipers, rotors and an RCS 19 master cylinder.

The engine is left alone, apart from magnesium head covers, but the exhaust is a Wolfman 2-into-1 system terminated with a Spark megaphone. The finishing touch is a 10 cm single endurance-style headlight, offset to the left. It looks kooky, but is undoubtedly effective.

Head over to the Radical Ducati website for the full specification, which is far too detailed to list here.

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The scale of the Japanese custom scene is absolutely staggering, as anyone who has pored over magazines such as Moto Navi and Cycle Headz will know. And within that scene are different philosophies of bike building.

In one corner we have builders such as Shinya Kimura, who seems to be influenced by the concept of wabi-sabi—a beauty that appears to be incomplete or imperfect. In the other corner we have workshops such as Ritmo Sereno, AC Sanctuary and Bull Dock, who revel in precision, detailing and component quality.

This Kawasaki Z1000J is a recent Bull Dock build, but classified as a ‘budget’ build by their standards. Still, the modifications are extensive. The wheels are Dynamag and have been dropped down to 17” in diameter, while the 998cc motor has been boosted to 1135cc with a Wiseco kit.

The air-cooled DOHC engine is now running Yoshimura ST-1 cams and Keihin FCR37 carburetion, with gases exiting via a Kerker exhaust. The sparks are taken care of via a Dyna 2000 ignition system. Further back, a custom swingarm keeps the rear wheel planted—useful given the 102 hp output of a stock Z1000J—and McCoy rearsets improve the riding position.

It looks like 80s superbikes are poised for a big comeback. And if this is the style that filters through to the west, I’m all for it.

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With literally hundreds of machines dropping into my inbox every week, it takes something truly special to stop me in my tracks. This is one such machine, a remarkable Ducati 900 SS modified beyond recognition—and with great skill.

The builder, Bernard Mont, calls the bike a “TT3 Difazio”—an imagined collaboration between the engineers Fabio Taglioni and Jack Difazio. And thanks to the Belgian photography collective True Biker Spirit, we can examine this unique motorcycle in detail.

Jack Difazio was a bike builder living in England who specialized in hub center steering. By the time he died earlier this year, he’d built up a small but very loyal following.

Bernard is one of Difazio’s biggest fans, and spent seven years creating this tribute to Difazio’s engineering prowess. Starting with a Ducati 900 SS as the donor bike, he shortened the frame, fitted a custom subframe, and heavily upgraded the engine.

The front wheel comes from a Guzzi V11 and received the Difazio hub. The front suspension is crafted from steel triangles and two tailor-made Öhlins shocks. The rear suspension is supported by an Extreme Tech shock with a custom spring designed by Bernard.

The exhaust pipework is a Lazer GP, modified to receive SuperTrapp mufflers. A beautiful Aermacchi mono-seat has been mounted on the custom subframe, and the front has been treated to a TT fairing to echo Taglioni’s era.

It’s a classic prototype in the traditional sense of the word, with a vision brought to life by inspired engineering. Head over to Bernard’s blog for more images, including spreads from the excellent French magazine Cafe Racer.

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When Alan Stulberg of Texas-based Revival Cycles bought this 1978 Moto Guzzi Le Mans Mark I, it was an unfinished restoration project. “The owner literally kissed it and bid it farewell when I handed him the cash,” says Stulberg. “It was sort of emotional …”

Unfortunately, the Le Mans was held together by zip-ties. “It was simply a rolling parts rack with everything finger-tight. I had it apart in less than an hour.”

Stulberg is a pure-bred Guzzisti and usually has at least four Mandello products in his garage at any given time. But he sold his treasured 1975 T3 to pay for the Le Mans. And the original intention of a complex build evaporated when the Revival Cycles crew decided to take the bike to the Barber Vintage Motorcycle rally. “This gave us about two weeks to build a custom bike that needed to run. That’s something we could never do with a client bike—we simply can’t make decisions fast enough with a client in-tow.”

Work started apace. The frame was de-tabbed and cut down, and a custom aluminum tail and seat pan was built. The seat itself is black suede; it conceals an RFID sensor under the Revival “R” logo acting as a keyless ignition switch.

The seat also hides a Motogadget M-unit. “The bike does not have a single fuse or relay to complicate the electrical system. It single-handedly allows for simple wiring, because it controls the ignition, headlight, brake/taillight operation, starting and everything else,” says Stulberg. “This piece alone makes a vintage bike so much more modern. We sell them, and I can’t say enough about how much this changes the game of vintage bike wiring.”

Revival then fitted modified Tarozzi rearsets and relocated the rear master cylinder, cleaning up the rear ‘triangle’ section of the frame. The center stand came off, and a custom stainless 2-into-1 exhaust went on—complete with a Cone Engineering silencer.

Two red LEDs in the rear frame act as taillights, and there’s a trick LED headlight up front. “It makes a huge difference to safety and keeps the charging system load very low.” A Dyna electronic ignition and lithium iron battery provide instantaneous starting power.

The revalved vintage Marzocchi rear shocks are upside down because they wouldn’t fit with the factory rear brake caliper. And the flat-toned grey color? “It resembles the Porsche 356 color that I’ve loved for years,” says Stulberg. “I don’t think most people would paint aluminum, but sometimes you don’t just use aluminum tins for bragging rights. The tail was smooth and ready for polishing, but this color was more what I was after.”

Revival will be doing more work to the Le Mans soon, and plan to fit an alloy racing-style fuel tank. They’ll also be stripping the bike back down to the frame again, to have it properly powder-coated and sealed. And although the Le Mans isn’t for sale, there are three more custom Moto Guzzis on the Revival work sheet. If they’re half as good as this one, they’re worth looking out for.

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I’m a sucker for a tastefully updated classic BMW. And this mid-70s airhead is as good as it gets. The bike started out as a stock R75/6, but it’s now way beyond factory spec—thanks to California-based BMW specialists Boxer Metal.

According to builder Chris Canterbury, “The customer saw a similar bike in a magazine, and wanted me to build him his own version. So we took the engine up to 1000cc [from 750cc] with late model heads and carburetors, a BMW sport cam and a lightened flywheel.”

Boxer Metal also fitted a police-spec tank and seat obtained from Europe, and had the bodywork repainted by Chico-based artist Dennis Price. They stripped, rebuilt, powder coated and re-laced the wheels with stainless steel spokes. The front end is now a dual disc setup from a R90S; it’s matched to completely rebuilt forks, with Works Performance providing the rear shocks.

Extreme attention to detail has given this R75/6 a factory-fresh look: Boxer Metal has powder coated the frame parts, and black anodized many of the other components. The exhaust has been treated to a Jet-Hot Ceramic Coating, and the shiny parts are either chrome-plated or new stainless steel.

The standard R75/6 had around 50 hp, but this machine is probably putting out closer to 70—which should give spritely performance for a bike weighing just over 200 kg wet (460 lbs).

Classic style and a decent turn of speed—what more could you want?

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